Tick bites and red meat allergies

For the last few years I've been having some mild to fairly intense reactions to eating meat. It all started out on Fire Island a few years ago when I had a burger and got hives all over my body. I had never had them before and was pretty freaked out watching my skin erupt with gross looking bumps. Also, the itching is close to unbearable.

It has come and gone over the years, but this weekend a few hours after having an incredible slice (or two) of Chris' expertly prepared pork loin, I was pretty much covered in hives.

Today I learned that it appears to be caused by a reaction to a tick bite (that I probably got the summer of my first reaction). This is a newly recognized phenomenon, discovered by a cluster of cases on the tick-ridden north coast of Australia.

Unfortunately, the cure is: don't eat beef, pork, lamb, venison or pretty much anything that walks on four legs. Oh, and a severe reaction can be fatal.

Wow!

http://www.ivanhoe.com/science/story/2009/08/602a.html